Mayfield

From: The Association of Community And Comprehensive Schools:

Clarification on the use of face coverings in Post Primary schools
Wearing a face covering or mask does not negate the need to stay at home if symptomatic.

Wearing of face coverings – a requirement
Staff and students, at post-primary level, are required to wear a face covering.

Cloth face coverings
Cloth face coverings are recommended for staff and students. Cloth face coverings act as a barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from travelling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the face covering coughs, sneezes, talks or raises their voice. Cloth face coverings are therefore intended to prevent transmission of the virus from the wearer (who may not know
that they are infected) to those with whom they come into close contact.

Face coverings must not contain any slogans/logos/images that may cause upset or be deemed offensive to any member of the school community.

Directions for effective use of face coverings

• Information should be provided by schools on the proper use, removal, and washing of face coverings. Advice on how to use face coverings properly can be found here.
• All staff and students should be reminded not to touch the face covering and to wash or sanitise their hands (using hand sanitiser) before putting on and after taking off the face covering.
• Face coverings should be stored in a designated space, for example, in an individually labelled container or bag.
• Cloth face coverings should be washed after every day of use and/or before being used again, or if visibly soiled.
• Face coverings should not be worn if they are wet. A wet cloth face covering may make it difficult to breathe.

Attention Parents and Students of the class of 2020
Leaving Certificate results are available from 9am on 7th September 2020  at the Student Portal on education.ie https://lc2020.education.gov.ie/Students will need their examination number, PPS number and account password.

Ms O Regan, your Guidance Counsellor will be available to you from 9 am on Monday.
Please email Ms O Regan or call the school to arrange a meeting.

For more information, please see this booklet:

Dear parents
We hope that you are keeping well. Since our last letter to you on the 14th August, we have continued to work hard to get our school ready for reopening.
Our priority is to minimise any potential introduction of Covid-19 into our school.

We would like to remind you that;

• Visitor access to the school will be very limited. Parents can only be allowed access if an appointment has been made.
• Any student who has been abroad to countries outside the Green List are required to quarantine for a full two weeks before they return to school.
• Parents should remain vigilant around symptoms and keep their children isolated at home if they are experiencing flu like symptoms.

Our safety matters and with this in mind, we are introducing the following measures:

• All students must sanitise their hands when they enter our school.
• There are 75 Hand Sanitising point clearly identified around our school
• To avoid crowds, students will be designated an entry and exit point at the start and end of each school day. These entry / exit points will be clearly identified for the students during our first week back in school
• Please arrive at school as close as possible to 8.55am and once your son / daughter is in school, they must go straight to class.
• All classes will remain in their classroom for tuition and lunchtimes.
• All students will be allocated a specific seat in their base classroom.
• Lockers have been moved into the rooms and each student will be allocated their own individual locker.
• Year Groups will remain together in pods around the building e.g. Fifth Years will be based in B05 and B07. The students will remain in those classes for the majority of their classes.
• The students will have to move to subjects such as Art, PE, Computer Science etc.
• Classes will be allocated designated toilet facilities specifically for certain Year Groups close to their respective pod area.

A reminder that students must wear MASKS in school. If your son/daughter cannot wear
a mask for medical reasons then you must provide a medical cert to the school before your
son/daughter returns to school.

Thank you for your full support and we are looking forward to seeing your son / daughter
back in our school

Take care
Kieran Golden, Kathleen Daly

Friday 14th August 2020

Dear Parents,

I hope that this message finds you all well. We fully understand that the last few months have been very different to what we have been used to in our lives and in our schools. We have missed seeing and hearing our students around the school and we are really looking forward to welcoming all our students back at the end of this month.

We are working hard to make sure that our school will be safe for all students and staff. The guidance provided by the Department of Education and Skills is comprehensive and detailed.

Our priority is to minimise the risk of the introduction of Covid -19 to the school and if introduced, to manage the risk of spread. In the event of a student showing any symptoms, the student will be removed from class and brought to our newly designated isolation room. Parents will be contacted immediately and asked to bring their son / daughter home and you are advised to make immediate phone contact with your GP.

Our school is open to essential visitors only. Parents can only come to school once an appointment has been made and only adults can attend the scheduled meeting.

As of today, Friday 14th August, our plans include:

 School uniforms are to be worn by all students every day. In line with public health guidelines, we would ask you to wash the school uniform frequently.
 We are reconfiguring all our classroom furniture to ensure that students are one metre apart.
 We are advising all our students to bring face masks with them to school. Further guidance in relation to the wearing of the mask will be issued closer to our re-opening.
 We are asking all students to bring in their own materials such as biros, rulers and calculators. The sharing of materials is not advised.
 Lockers will only be available to students at strict designated times. The lockers are being separated and will be placed at strategic points around the school.
 We have dispensers placed at each entrance to our school and a dispenser is placed in each classroom
 All our existing toilets have been upgraded including hot water and soap being available. We have also added three new toilet facilities to our school.
 All students will remain within the school grounds for both lunches. Student Year Groups will have designated lunch areas for both morning and main lunch.
 Our Book Rental Scheme will continue to operate for all students

The following is our Start Up Schedule :
• Thurs Aug 27th – Staff Induction
• Fri Aug 28th – Sixth Year Induction: 11.30am – 12.30pm
• Mon Aug 31st – Fifth Year including LCAs 9.45am – 10.30am First Year 11.30am – 12.30pm
• Tues Sept 1st – Second Years 9.45am First Year 11.30am – 12.30pm
• Weds Sept 2nd – 9.45am – 10.45am Transition Year 11.30am – 12.15pm
• Thurs Sept 3rd – Sixth Year 9.45am – 10.30am First Year 11.30am – 12.30pm
• Fri Sept 4th – All years
There is no doubt that we will face many challenges. We are however very confident in our ability to overcome these challenges with your help and with your support.

Yours faithfully

Kieran Golden

As part of the Calculated Grades process, the Department of Education and Skills asks all Leaving Cert and Leaving Cert Applied students to opt-in to the calculated grades process.

The full instructions can be viewed by clicking on this link

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

• Pen and Paper
• Exam Number
• PPS Number
• Email address (Make sure it’s one you will be able to access over the next few months)
• Your phone number

When you are satisfied that you have those, go to: https://lc2020.education.gov.ie/

Good Luck!

Information for our Leaving Certificate Class 2020

We will continue to support our Leaving Certificate class in every way that is permitted and appropriate in the coming weeks. Ms O’Regan, our Guidance Counsellor, Mr Hurley, our School Chaplain and Ms Daly will answer any questions you may have regarding student support and guidance. I will answer any questions you may have regarding the examination process.

Our Leaving Certificate students remain students of our school until the end of the school term. In terms of the school’s role in supporting the wellbeing of Leaving Certificate students, this support will remain available until the end of the school term (31st May 2020).

Our Guidance Counsellor is permitted to continue to provide guidance counselling support to 6th year students (1:1 and small group work). Guidance counselling support may be provided to students wishing to discuss their social personal, education and career concerns. However, In advance of any planned interaction with students a clear statement must be communicated to students and parents/guardians that the guidance counsellor will not be engaging in discussions regarding the calculated grading process or potential marks awarded by teachers.

Guidance Counsellors, teachers and students may not discuss the student’s achievement in the subject over the past two years.  Nor can they discuss the student’s ranking in a class, or their estimated mark or the level at which an estimated mark is to be provided in a subject. All conversations between Leaving Certificate students and members of the School’s Student Support Team, during this time, need to be prefaced with a statement such as the following:

‘As part of our conversation today we are prohibited from having any discussion about student achievement over the past 2 years, student ranking in a class, student’s estimated mark  or the level an estimated mark is to be provided in a subject.  If our conversation strays into speaking about any of these matters, our meeting will have to cease immediately.’ 

I would ask you all to take note of the following important points:

1. Canvassing

On Monday, 11^thMay,  the Department of Education and Skills has issued the following statement regarding canvassing:

One of the fundamental principles of the calculated grades model is fairness – both to the individual student and to the students in the school as a whole. Any attempt to influence teachers in relation to the process of Leaving Certificate calculated grades is considered to be entirely inappropriate and will be regarded as canvassing.

2. End of Tuition for 6^th Year/Final Year Students

At a meeting this afternoon Department officials stated that a message would post on their FAQ section indicating that all tuition for 6^th Year/Final Year LC/LCA/LCVP students is to end today May 11^th .  Teachers should not accept any additional material from this date submitted by students for consideration as part of their estimated mark.

3. Student Opportunity to Change Subject Levels

The Department has indicated that students will have the opportunity to change subject levels.  The SEC are developing a protocol which may involve the student indicting their desire to change level through a self-service portal for students.  Teachers should not contact students to consider changing level in a subject but should await further guidance from the Department when available.

Dear Applicant,
This is an important email, read it now and follow the instructions carefully. Please do not ignore. Please note: Due to Covid-19 restrictions CAO will not be sending a postal Statement of Application Record this year.
This Statement of Application Record email has been sent to instruct you to log in and verify that all of your information has been recorded completely and correctly on your CAO Account. Failure to follow this instruction may have serious consequences for your application.

Please take the following steps:
Step 1. Read the instructions on the Statement of Application Record page online at http://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=aboutStmt . On this page you will also find a link to additional information which relates specifically to your application type(s), e.g. Leaving Certificate, QQI FET, GCE, and Other Applicants – including Mature applicants and those presenting Other School Leaving Qualifications. Please make sure to read this information carefully.

Step 2. Log in to your CAO Account to review your account information, including your personal information, your examination information, supporting documentation (if you supplied any) and your course choices. Do not delay. If you have applied for an NUI and/or TCD exemption, check that it is recorded on your account.

Step 3. If there are any errors or omissions inform CAO immediately. Failure to correct errors or omissions at this stage may have very serious consequences and lead to the loss of a place.
Please note: If your examination has been replaced by calculated/predicted grades we still require your examination number (or board, centre and candidate number for GCE applicants) for administrative purposes.

Notifying CAO of errors or omissions:
In some instances you may be able to edit/update your account information yourself using the My Application facility, for example personal details (except for name or date of birth), course choices or examination information. Simply log in to your CAO account and update the information in the relevant sections. If we receive your changes/updates before the end of May they will be updated to your account in early June. For more information on updating these sections, go to the instructions page online at http://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=aboutStmt. In other instances you will need to email CAO via the Correspondence Section of your account to inform us of any errors or omissions, for example an exemption that has not been recorded, an incorrect name or date of birth, or missing documentation.
Please note that only documents received by CAO up to 25th March have been uploaded to applicant accounts. Documents received after 25th March will be processed and uploaded to your account when our office re-opens. If this applies to you, you will be notified and given an opportunity to view your documents at a later date – check your documents when instructed to do so and no later than 30th June.

Other important information:
The CAO Change of Mind facility will operate as usual, opening on the 5th May at noon and closing on the 1st July at 17:15. If you wish to make changes to your course choices you must do so online at our website: www.cao.ie before 5.15pm on 1st July.  Go to `My Application` and log in to your account. There is no fee for this facility and you may use it more than once. Carefully read the instructions on page 14 & 15 of the 2020 CAO Handbook. Additional instructions and a `Change of Mind Video Guide` are available here: http:// www.cao.ie/index.php?page=aboutCOM Over the coming weeks, CAO will hold further discussions with the State Examinations Commission about the expected revised timeline for the provision of Leaving Certificate grades. Following on from this, CAO and HEIs will continue to discuss the impact this change will have on the existing offers and acceptances schedule. We will be notifying you as soon as a revised schedule has been agreed by CAO and HEIs.
Yours sincerely,
CAO Information Service

There is a lot of confusion in the matter of students and parents contacting school staff.

Students may need to contact school staff for legitimate reasons such as careers advice, support, etc.

In this matter, we  will follow the following advice from the DES

However, In advance of any planned interaction with students a clear statement must be communicated to students and parents/guardians that the guidance counsellor will not be engaging in discussions regarding the calculated grading process or potential marks awarded by teachers. Guidance Counsellors, teachers and students may not discuss the student’s achievement in the subject over the past two years.  Nor can they discuss the student’s ranking in a class, or their estimated mark or the level at which an estimated mark is to be provided in a subject.

All conversations between Leaving Certificate students and members of the School’s Student Support Team, during this time, need to be prefaced with a statement such as the following:

‘As part of our conversation today we are prohibited from having any discussion about student achievement over the past 2 years, student ranking in a class, student’s estimated mark or the level an estimated mark is to be provided in a subject.

If our conversation strays into speaking about any of these matters, our meeting will have to cease immediately.’

Guidelines from Department of Education & Science, FAQ #33

For more information go to the Department of Education & Skills website:

https://www.education.ie/en/Learners/Information/State-Examinations/leaving-cert-2020.html

There is an FAQ page regularly updated at:

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d8920c-leaving-cert-2020/?referrer=/leavingcertificate/

Assessment and Reporting on the Learning of our Students – Summer 2020

A Guide for our Parents

While all schools have been closed since the 12^th March, all of us as teachers and parents have tried our best to ensure that students continue learning. Our school did everything we could, along with your support to ensure that our students progressed in their learning.

As a school, we believe that it is important that our students and their parents get feedback on how your son / daughter has progressed this term. Our teachers fully understand that the last few months have been challenging and we will take that into consideration when we are completing the end of term reports.

On Monday, 11^th May, we had an assembly with each of our Year Groups online and Mr McMurtry and Mr Hurley outlined our approach to assessment this term and explained to the students very clearly how marks are being awarded. Our teachers worked together to come up with an agreed approach to assessment this term. These arrangements are fair and the hard work that has been done by our students will be acknowledged and the students whose hard work has been disrupted due to the Covid-19 situation will not be disadvantaged.

Marks being awarded will fully take into account your son’s / daughter’s engagement with school before our schools closed on the 12^th March.

• Reports will include a mark and a comment
• The deadline for completion of assignments for our students will be Friday 22^nd May.
• We will be posting reports home from Thursday, June 4^th   

Third Year Junior Cert School-based Assessment

60% Assessment Data           

Christmas Test                        20%

Pre Exams                                20%

CBAs                                          10%

Online Assignments                10%

If no CBAs in the subjects Christmas & Pre Exams 25% each.

40% Engagement                 

Attendance                             10%

Participation                           10%

Homework                              10%

Attitude                                    10%

100%

First, Second & Fifth Year Assessment Reports

50% Assessment Data           

Christmas Test and other class tests              25%

Online Assignments                                          25%

50% Engagement                   

Attendance                                                     10%

Participation                                                  20%

Homework                                                     10%

Attitude                                                          10%

100%